Her journey to self love

She sat in front of her vanity mirror Her reflection felt unfamiliar The girl in it didn't look how she pictured She felt like a visitor In a body that should be familiar Yet somehow she felt like a prisoner Not knowing how to feel about the person in the mirror who reflected her She wasn't sure if she liked what she saw She wasn't sure whether to love or hate Her skin that made people afraid That her parents to her to appreciate She just wanted to escape A world that wouldn't hesitate A world who wanted her to break To succumb to the same fate Of the other black people they made Slowly fade away In a slow and painful way Back in the mirror she stared At a girl who pretended she didn't care At a life which for her was very much unfair How the world used her as cautionary tale To spread hatred to white children to beware Of the black girl with her afro she wears As a way to instill fear In the children so they would grow up to do the same Their legacy was generational hate But when she really looked in the mirror And began to silence the lingering whispers She took a deep breath And began to clear her head She replaced the negative thoughts with the positive ones instead And when she looked at her reflection She finally understood without question That she loved her blackness She couldn't believe she let the world convince her that she was anything less than perfection